James Cameron on Women and Action Roles in Films

James Cameron on Women and Action Roles in Films

The Guardian headed over to Ireland to meet with James Cameron at the new Titanic Belfast museum and among the things he discussed was how Hollywood gets its action women wrong.

We know that Cameron has created some great action female characters on screen all the while not having such a great relationship with women off screen. But he has married and divorced some of the strongest women in Hollywood including Gale Anne Hurd and Kathryn Bigelow so I’m sure he learned a thing or two from them.

His characters are legendary – Ripley in Aliens, Sarah Connor in Terminator 2, Grace in Avatar. The women in his movies are strong and their strength always seems organic and not a shock.

Here’s what he said about creating these women and what Hollywood does wrong:

I didn’t even think it was that remarkable when I did it with Terminator – it’s remarkable by its absence in other Hollywood movies

I do think Hollywood movies get it wrong when they show women in action roles – they basically make them men. Or else they make them into superheroes in shiny black suits, which is just not as interesting.

Here’s to continually hoping that Hollywood can figure out how to make some female action characters behave and look like women and not only sex objects.